question gluing acrylic sheets

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louie68

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Planning on using 3/16"thick clear acrylic sheets 6x10x6 size can anyone suggest a type of glue to put the vaccum chamber together. My plans is to use to pull the bubbles out of various casting. Plan on using PR resin & Smoothcast 60d very flexible.
Will be using a 1.5hp dry/vac for suction.
 
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There are special adhesives made for acrylic---they actually melt the pieces together and can form a clear joint. Come in several formulas---been a long time since I used them, but they worked well for parts of fountains, I'm sure you will have no problem with vacuum chambers and liquid.


ONE link: http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=22996&catid=486
 
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louie56 said:
It's more like 1/4" thick acrylic
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I tend to be a bit leary of thin stuff for vacuuming. I had one that I made out of 1/4 lexan and the first time I used it I only got it to about 20" and had to shut it down because it was flexing so badly I thought it would implode! :bulgy-eyes: Now I use one I got from curtis at turn tex wood works, no flexing and no worries.
 
PLEASE don't use 3/16" or even 1/4". It will NOT withstand the vacuum. As a matter of fact, the 10" you mention will require you go with AT LEAST 1/2" acrylic. My largest chamber is 8x8x7 and is made from 1/2". I will not go bigger with 1/2" due to the deflection. Anything much more than 8" in any direction with 1/2" even is asking for trouble, IMO. If I was doing one with a 10" measurement, I would use 3/4".
 
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And to answer you question, like Eric said, use one of the Weld-on products. You can use Weld-on 3 or 4 or even 16. Weld-on 3 is a little faster than 4 and 16 has higher viscosity which can fill some small gaps but it takes longer. Weld-on 3 and 4 are basically just methylene chloride (solvent) while Weld-on 16 is methylene chloride with methyl methacrylate resin in it.
 
While we are talking about safety on material thickness, please read the MSDS sheet on methylene chloride. They took mine away from me at work. I protested, and they told me I would have to go through periodic testing because of the nature of this product. We never did a lot of acrylic work, so let them take it. It's nasty stuff!
 
Yep, it is definitely nasty stuff! I keep a very strong fan blowing on me and across my work area when using it. I use a LOT of this stuff and try to take the proper precautions.
 
louie56 said:
Planning on using 3/16"thick clear acrylic sheets 6x10x6 size can anyone suggest a type of glue to put the vaccum chamber together. My plans is to use to pull the bubbles out of various casting. Plan on using PR resin & Smoothcast 60d very flexible.
Will be using a 1.5hp dry/vac for suction.
Click to expand...

All the above comments are valid if you were to use a real vacuum pump. Using a shop vac, you could maybe use plastic sandwich wrap to make the chamber for all the vacuum you will get. If your shop vac isn't rated for flammables (which it probably isn't) you could get more excitement than you anticipate. Sparks +vapor from PR = Boom (or maybe a baby flame thrower if you have a real bad day).:eek:

A shop vac won't pull enough vacuum to do any serious degassing of resin. Food Saver type vacuum pumps won't work either.

Ed
 
Thanks for all the comments,warnings,and suggestions.
I guess my cube will be use for display only !!!
Curtis what is the price for a vaccum cube?
 
gluing

Thanks for all the comments,warnings,and suggestions.
I guess my cube will be use for display only !!!
Curtis what is the price for a vaccum cube?
 
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